Phil Taylor suffered an unprecedented power cut last night - as a big date on the darts calendar was postponed by a blackout.

Thousands of fans were turned away from Wembley Arena, and Sky Sports were left with a yawning gap in their prime-time schedule, when the Whyte & Mackay Premier League play-offs were wiped out by massive power failure.

A meltdown in the electricity grid at around 5pm in north-west London left thousands of homes without power and brought the Tube network at nearby Wembley Park to a standstill.

And when Professional Darts Corporation organisers were unable to obtain safety certificates by the cut-off time of 8pm, they were forced to pull the plug on world No.1 Taylor's bid to avenge his semi-final defeat by Mervyn King last year.

The play-offs will now be played tonight from 7pm, despite competition from the England-Mexico friendly match next door.

Taylor - whose nickname 'The Power' has never seemed more ironic - said: "This is the first time anything like this has happened to me in my whole career.

"I've been subjected to headlines about Power cuts when I've lost before, but I never thought it would come to this.

"I can only hope it proves to be a case of all good things come to those who wait."